Goodwill planning SE Cedar Rapids store

Goodwill of the Heartland will open a retail store this summer in a building that formerly housed a Hy-Vee Drugstore at 2405 Mount Vernon Road SE.

The 16,000-square-foot store will be the non-profit organization's fourth location in Linn County, according to Mindy Kayser, Goodwill's vice president of marketing. She said the store will employ 14 people full time, including management, as well as providing training for Goodwill clients with barriers to employment,

'We may hire some of those folks or they may move on to other opportunities,” Kayser said. 'We like to promote from within and hire our ‘graduates,' so to speak, people who have been successful with us. Some of them are now in management positions.”

Kayser said data from Goodwill's attended donation center (ADC) on 34th Street SE prompted the organization to consider opening a retail store in that area of Cedar Rapids.

'If the ADC is getting good donations and traffic, which it has been, we know that part of the community can support and sustain another retail location. It's not just about shopper convenience, but also donor convenience.”

Jason Toms, vice president of retail operations, said Goodwill had been looking for an appropriate existing facility that would meet its needs.

'We want to be a positive addition to the area,” Toms said. 'We offer clean stores, great value and top-notch customer service. As a local non-profit, we also provide an outlet for people to support a charitable cause.”

Kayser said Goodwill is in the process of soliciting bids for minor renovation work required before the store can open. She said the store, which will operate from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., likely will open in late summer.

West Des Moines-based Hy-Vee closed the drug store on Oct. 26, 2014, after it expanded its store at 4035 Mount Vernon Road SE. The store underwent a $12-million remodeling project that included a larger HealthMarket as well as more pharmacy offerings and dietitian services.